Nintendo Co., the world's largest maker of video game players, has unveiled its new Wii U game pad, which it says enhances Wii game console by adding functions including messaging among players and game downloads.
The Wii U's centerpiece is a touch-screen controller that can serve as a second screen for Wii games or as an independent screen for video calls or Internet browsing, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said during a presentation on the company's website Monday.
The Wii U will be compatible with earlier Wii games and hardware, Iwata said, without disclosing when the Kyoto-based company will start selling the game pad.
Nintendo hopes to sell 7 million Wii U units this fiscal year, Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Securities Co. in Tokyo, estimated in April.
The creator of "Super Mario Bros." games is predicting a return to profit in the year ending next March 31 after a surging yen and a consumer preference for playing games on Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad led to the first annual loss in at least three decades in the last fiscal year.
E3, a trade show for computer and video games, runs from Tuesday through Thursday at the Los Angeles Convention Center.